Karl Chevrolet was founded by Ankeny industrialist Carl Moyer, who passed away on Saturday.
Raised on the east side of Des Moines after dropping out of East High School in the tenth year, Moyer began his career in business as a side salesperson at a petrol station next to Lincoln High School.
He was employed at a Cedar Falls dealership as a sales manager when he was 19. After moving back to central Iowa, he worked for West Des Moines and Winterset dealerships before opening his own in Ankeny.
In order to establish Karl Chevrolet, a single-car dealership in Ankeny, Moyer bought out his brother in 1978.
“I didn’t have an employee,” Moyer said to the Register in 2003 when Chevrolet presented him with the esteemed Jack Smith Presidential Award. “I had nothing to sell—a car. My building has a Chevrolet symbol on it.”
In 1983, Karl Chevrolet relocated to its current site at the crossroads of Ankeny Boulevard and Oralabor Road.
According to a news statement from the dealership announcing his passing, Moyer was very particular about the dealership’s grounds, making sure that they were kept up properly and that the automobiles were lined up precisely.
Additionally, he put the needs of the client first, trademarking the term “your dealer for life.”
The dealership claims that this strategy has allowed it to remain in the top 3% of all Chevrolet dealers. In addition, Karl Chevrolet has been recognized as General Motors’ best certified used car dealership 13 times.
In the last eight years or more, Moyer expanded the company considerably, the press statement stated. His car group employs around 800 people in ten different Iowan enterprises.
He became well-known for his charitable giving and community service. In order to repair and extend what is now known as the Karl Automotive Technology Center, Moyer donated $1 million to Des Moines Area Community College in 2018.
Additional contributions have been made to Variety – The Children’s Charity of Iowa, the Ankeny YMCA, the Kiwanis Miracle Park Project in Ankeny, and Ankeny SummerFest.
The 83-year-old Moyer is survived by his daughter Pam, sons Brad and Bret, and wife Penny. Nobody disclosed the cause of death. Plans are still being made for the funeral.
